Pop Ghazal

Pop ghazal is the popularised form of the sung Urdu and Hindi ghazal that developed from the 1970s, in which the classical poem of love and loss is set to light, modern arrangements for mass audiences. Where the traditional mehfil performance relies on harmonium, sarangi and tabla, pop ghazal adds orchestral strings, guitar, keyboards and rhythm sections, simplifies the melody and favours accessible poets and refrains. *Jagjit Singh* led the transformation in India, *Ghulam Ali* and *Mehdi Hassan* carried it in Pakistan, and *Najma* fused it with jazz in Britain on "Qareeb" (1987).